Dubbeldam Pop-Up Office Makes Work Work For Everyone

The Pop-Up Office by Dubbeldam is a durable container-based workplace consisting of different modules made out of discarded shipping palettes that can be arranged by the users’ liking to create a workplace that is ideal for everyone involved. The user can choose from different kinds of working environments, like ‘focus’ and ‘refuel’ and in this way always have an ideal place to work. And it can be put anywhere to boot!

The ‘popping up’ of a variety of things, like hotels, food carts, restaurants and even parks is of course nothing new for us, and even seeing workplaces pop-up is something we have discussed before. Nevertheless, this very cleverly designed container-based ‘pop-up office’ designed by the great minds of DUBBELDAM is truly something else. Merging durability with design and different kinds of people with different wishes for how an office should look, Dubbeldam has created a revolutionary kind of ‘popping up’.

As part of Toronto’s Interior Design Show 2013, Dubbeldam created the ‘pop-up office’ for an exhibited presented by Steel Space, a container-based event design company. Their fairly simple task was to realize an idea for a workspace by using nothing more than a shipping container. What they came up with is a container filled with several different wooden modules, all made out of discarded shipping palettes (to stay with the theme), free to arrange by the users to accommodate to their specific wishes.

The modules, divided by the concepts ‘focus’, ‘collaborate’, ‘lounge’ and ‘refuel’ all have different key elements that set them apart from the others and create a working environment that is always ideal for anyone who decides to work there. You need to focus on an important task? Go sit in the corner in/on the focus module that just has a desk and a chair. Do you want some time to talk and relax with your colleagues? Move to the refuel and lounge modules that sport beverages and lounge tables and chairs. This way the office can be adapted to different kinds of work. I can imagine a company that is working in crunch-time and has no time for lounging. Maybe there are a couple more focus modules added then. Or maybe a company that works solely with collaborative assignments. I think the point is fairly clear.

The folded wood look creates a very dynamic and coherent feel that ultimately invokes a sense of peace and rest when working. Personally I always like working in somewhat smaller spaces because of the communication you just need to have. Therefore I cannot help being a little envious of the people who may work in this cool little place. We would love to see the ‘pop-up offices’ popping up all over our country. There is no abundance of workspace, especially in Amsterdam, so these offices could definitely help creating more opportunities for smaller businesses to start working together, even at tightly packed communities. The Pop-Up Office is a truly inventive solution to something that was never necessarily a problem, but solved one nonetheless.

It is hard to find a good, clean and comfortable place to sit in the dense and over-designed urban jungle these days. The guys from the Austrian design agency Undpartner came up with a solution to this problem. Their design is a chair to wear, a mix between a piece of jewelry and a piece…

Recently we received this great book called The Temporary City, written by Peter Bishop and Lesley Williams. The book came with a kind note by Williams that says that “we made extensive use of The Pop-Up City in writing the book, so therefore I thought we owed you a copy”. Something to be proud of. The topic of the book is pretty much our cup of tea since it discusses the basic element of this blog — temporary and flexible urban design and architecture.

Homelessness is a growing problem across Europe and finding new and effective ways to combat social exclusion and help the homeless is becoming increasingly difficult. Malka Architecture, France, have found a way to attract much needed attention towards the growing problem of homelessness whilst at the same time providing shelter for those who need it.